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Determination of fruit and
oil characteristics of olive (Olea europaea L. cv. ‘Gemlik’)
in different irrigation and fertilization regimes
Celil Toplu1*,
Derya Önder2, Sermet Önder2 and Ercan
Yıldız1
1Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mustafa
Kemal 31034, Hatay, Turkey.
2Department of Agricultural Structures and Irrigation, Faculty of
Agriculture, University of Mustafa Kemal, 31034, Hatay,
Turkey.
*Corresponding author. E-mail:
ctoplu@mku.edu.tr ,
ctoplu1@hotmail.com
. Tel.: +90 326 2455845. Fax: +90 326 2455832.
Accepted 23 June, 2009 |
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We
evaluated plant growth, fruit and oil characteristics of
olive (Olea europaea L. cv. ‘Gemlik’) grown on
different fertilization and irrigation treatments.
Irrigation regimes included rainfed-control (T0),
two treatments with 50% (T50) of the full
irrigation treatment (T100) which received 100%
class-A pan evaporation. Four fertilization treatments
included unfertilized-control (F0), traditional
fertilization (F1) and application of P and K
during different growing stages (F2 - F3).
Experiments were conducted in each of three years considered
as repeated units in a repeated measurement design. Fruit
and total oil yields of olive increased about three times in
highest irrigation and fertilization combination compared to
rainfed and unfertilized treatments. The fruit and oil yield
increased from 11.46 and 2.78 kg/tree (T0F0)
to 30.07 and 7.12 kg/tree (T100F3),
respectively. Mean fruit weight (from 2.87 to up to 4.24 g)
and pulp stone ratio (from 3.68 to up to 5.60) also
increased with additional water as P and K applied during
flowering and endocarp hardening stages, respectively.
Fertilization treatments had little effect on fatty acid
compositions while additional irrigation resulted in
increased palmitic and linoleic acid and decreased oleic
acid content. Monounsaturated
fatty acids/polyunsaturated
fatty acids
ratio was also increased with irrigation supplements.
Key words:
Olea europaea L., fertigation, fruit yield and
quality.
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